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Originally Posted by OrinB  To show they had been there working, but turned out for the day to support their marvellous candidate? |
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Originally Posted by Richie Waves The mines were closed that day, yet in the photo there's a few miners with coal on their faces. I wondered whether they were asked to put it there by the campaign or the bosses. |
I was reminded of the GDR times, of days some Higher-up from Berlin came to the local factory.
And yes, back then they also shut down all departments that could be shut down at such events, and all employees who didn't have to work at machines that were supposed to run 24/7 had to attend the photo op - no matter if they just arrived at home after nightshift and had to travel back 1.5 hrs by bus to attend it. And as muh as it was mandatory to attend, it was also mandatory to appear as if they just had a break from work (and even the office workers had to appear like blue-collar workers then and there).
And those who refused and stayed home or in their departments, did face consequences: 1) being questioned (or rather interrogated) by "party officials" - plus 2) having to work in a less-skilled and less-payed job elsewhere for a few months as a disciplinary measure: "If you're not intelligent enough to understand the word 'mandatory', you're not intelligent enough to work in your current position. But we give you a chance to learn."
And yes, I went through that too, a few times to be honest. That's how I came to work in a real dirty job in Leipzig for half a year -- where I then happened to take part in those famous Monday Demonstrations.
